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Report: Young people are lying, cheating, and stealing less these days

The 2012 “Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth” suggests that young people’s morals have improved in recent years. The survey, conducted every two years by the Los Angeles-based Josephson Institute of Ethics, found that 99 percent of the 23,000 high school students sampled say they believe “it is very important to have good moral character.”

The results found 51 percent of students in 2012 admitted they cheated on an exam in the past year, which is down from 59 percent in 2010. The percentage of students admitting they’ve copied another’s homework dropped by two points in the past couple years. …

The survey also suggest there are fewer Pinocchios: Fifty-five percent of students in 2012 say they’ve lied to a teacher in the past year about something significant, compared with 61 percent in 2010.

Students admitting they stole something from a store in the past year fell seven percentage points in the last two years, to 20 percent in 2012.

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They don’t need to lie about much, as there’s no such thing as ‘truth’ or consequences anymore.

Don’t need to cheat since we’re all going to be ‘equal’.

Don’t need to steal because the government’s already done the leg work.

John_Locke on November 27, 2012 at 9:48 PM

I figured out the real reasons behind this a minute after my first post and feel like a complete idiot for not seeing them in the first place.

Of course they’re not ‘lying’; they can invent their own morality literally on the fly and adapt it to fit whatever their cricket brains thinks is “right” for them at the moment. Cheating? See above, justified by ‘fairness’/’equality’.

And you nailed it on stealing. Who needs to go rob a 7/11 and risk jail time or a bullet when you can walk down to the welfare office and get pre-stolen money in broad daylight with a cop car parked across the street?

And you nailed it on stealing. Who needs to go rob a 7/11 and risk jail time or a bullet when you can walk down to the welfare office and get pre-stolen money in broad daylight with a cop car parked across the street?

Part of their good moral character is gay weddings, gay parades, watching teen idol and voting for Obama.

Um, so they TELL YOU they lie less, they cheat less and steal less. I suppose it COULD be true…

astonerii on November 27, 2012 at 10:00 PM

“Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” (Matthew 7:16)

WTF does it say about what a little angel you are if you support tearing down religious freedom, spend all your free time watching the most pointless drivel on TV, and voting for an avowed Marxist who shouldn’t be elected dog catcher?

With the deepest respect to the Bible, the passage above could easily be reworded as something like “Can you harvest the ‘figs’ of freedom-loving, morally-upright citizens from a thornbush of immorality, indolence, and sanctioned theft?”

Of course you can’t. That’s why the liberals are so giddy about the demographic shift.

figured out the real reasons behind this a minute after my first post and feel like a complete idiot for not seeing them in the first place.

Of course they’re not ‘lying’; they can invent their own morality literally on the fly and adapt it to fit whatever their cricket brains thinks is “right” for them at the moment. Cheating? See above, justified by ‘fairness’/’equality’.

And you nailed it on stealing. Who needs to go rob a 7/11 and risk jail time or a bullet when you can walk down to the welfare office and get pre-stolen money in broad daylight with a cop car parked across the street?

I tend to believe them. I typically teach about 200 students each semester, and although I do catch one or two cheating in a typical semester, the vast majority are clearly doing their own work. And, as I deal with them one-on-one, they seem to genuinely want to be decent people. Many of them struggle with having been coddled in one way or another (resulting in a fear of making mistakes), but remarkably few feel entitled to what they haven’t earned (and I’m one of the few who does not inflate their grades).

Of course, the downside to dealing with this many students is I get to see up close just how abysmal our education system is. Their general writing skills are atrocious, they really can’t think critically, and there is a great deal of magical thinking (things just “work out” because they always have–thanks Mom and Dad!). And traditional morality is hit-or-miss–they would not steal, but hopping into the sack with a virtual stranger is a-okay. Of course, we see some of that here on Hot Air (ducks for cover).

I notice you don’t have any factual basis to refute. Not that you’d know a fact if it hit you in the face.

And traditional morality is hit-or-miss–they would not steal, but hopping into the sack with a virtual stranger is a-okay. Of course, we see some of that here on Hot Air (ducks for cover).

DrMagnolias on November 28, 2012 at 6:02 AM

Modern parents who actually hold to traditional beliefs are scared silly of just this thing when their children go off to college. It’s extremely hard to make it all ‘stick’, and not have some things that your kid personally detests (like lying) be held dear and things that he/she thinks is just fine (like rampant extramarital sex) go right out the window.